


Elevator Encounter

by ImplausibleBec



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-17
Updated: 2015-06-17
Packaged: 2018-04-04 21:41:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4154004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImplausibleBec/pseuds/ImplausibleBec
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Natasha makes a game of reading other agents, especially the one who rides the elevator with her every morning.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Elevator Encounter

**Author's Note:**

> This is based on a prompt I found a while back, somewhere in tumblr. I've had it posted on my tumblr for a while, figured I'd put it up here too. Feedback is appreciated :-)

The brunette had appeared about six months after Natasha joined SHIELD. She was tall, combat hardened with a stare that would make a lesser agent whither. 

Natasha could barely keep her eyes off the newcomer as every morning they rode the elevator from the parking garage up. Natasha would get off on the training floor, the brunette went to the second highest floor according to the panel of buttons. The top two floors were the command centre. The highest floor was Fury’s office, and a series of high security briefing rooms. The second highest was field command. The brunette was most likely a tactician or analyst, she decided. 

Natasha’s greatest skill was reading people, she wouldn’t have lived as long as she had if it weren’t. Each morning she stole glances at the brunette, slowly fitting details into a complete picture. She was definitely ex-military, the way she stood and the immaculate way she presented herself each day, she was accustomed to strict standards and she held herself to them. She was in the command chain, Natasha realised. Her rigid posture wasn’t that of a junior agent trying to impress a superior, it was simply how she stood, she made it look almost comfortable. There was power in her presence, she had to be the new Deputy Director - Maria Hill. 

At first it had been a game, but after a month of morning elevator rides Natasha had started listening and watching throughout her day, seeking more information about the increasingly intriguing woman. Of course, she could have hacked the system and just read her file, but that took all the fun out of it. 

-

It was raining. Not a little bit of rain, but sheets of it. Natasha was glad that the garage was underground, her hair would not have easily recovered from such a soaking. She stepped into the elevator, behind Maria. Just the two of them. Natasha pressed four, Maria pressed nine. The stood in silence as they started to ascend. Their morning ritual. 

They stopped. The lights flickered out. Emergency lighting booted up a moment later, but it was dull in comparison to the fluorescent light they’d lost. Natasha stole a glance at Maria. 

“What?” Maria demanded. “Why do you insist on staring at me constantly? What rumour are you trying to prove?”

“There are rumours about you?” Natasha asked curiously. Lying outright. Of course there were rumours. Mostly ridiculous. 

“Aren’t there?”

“Not that I’ve heard.” Natasha shrugged. 

“All I’ve heard is you’re strict, you expect a lot from those around you and you’re more than competent at your job.” She gave a smirk. “And trust me, I went looking for the gossip, it’s just not there.”

“Well that’s a welcome change. At the Academy the recruits seemed to have nothing better to do than discuss their instructors.” 

“Is anyone in the elevator?” A voice crackled on the tiny speaker in the panel.   
Natasha pushed the button to respond. 

“Agent Romanoff and Commander Hill, any idea when we’ll be moving again?”

“We’re working on it. The whole building is running on emergency systems, hold tight.”

“The Black Widow.” Maria shook her head. “Should I be worried that you’ve taken such an interest in me?” 

“It was just a game. Pick a random agent, read them.” She shrugged again. “You’re more interesting than most though. Everyone else here is trying to hide who they are, to prove they’re a blank slate ready for the field, not you. You’re unashamedly yourself.”

“I’ve done field work too.” She said defensively. 

“I don’t doubt you. Here though, out of the field you’re not pretending to be anything you’re not, and I mean this in the nicest way possible, by the way, but you genuinely are a hard-ass.”

“I get results.” She agreed. 

“So what where the rumours about you at the Academy?”

“Why?”

“I want to see how many I can work out the truth of.” Natasha said. “We have time.”

“Well they had me in bed with most of the other instructors.”

“Not your style.” Natasha shook her head. 

“Correct.” Maria nodded. “There was one that claimed I removed Fury’s eye.”

“Again, nope.”

“Correct. Although that one was pretty easy.” She chuckled. “Apparently I came to SHIELD from the army, after the rest of my unit was blown up.”

“Not the army, definitely ex-military though, marines? And if they were blown up it wasn’t your fault.” Natasha considered the brunette for a moment. “Bad intel. You sought the transfer, although not to SHIELD, probably the pentagon.”

“You’re good. It was Arlington though, not the Pentagon.” Maria nodded. “And two of us survived, although I was the only one to retain all my limbs.”

“I’m sorry. That’s rough.”

“There was also the hallmark rumour for a woman in power, the dyke rumour.”

“That one’s true. Although I doubt you use the work dyke often. You could be bisexual but you tend more toward the fairer sex.”

“How could you possibly know that?” She laughed. 

“You caught me watching you. So you were watching me too.” Maria blushed. “It’s ok, I don’t mind, everyone does it.” Natasha shrugged. 

“It’s unprofessional.”

“You’re not outright staring, I doubt anyone else would notice. It’s really not unprofessional.”

“It is. And I am sorry, really.”

“No, unprofessional would be-” she trailed of, moving closer to the taller woman. Placing a hand behind Maria’s neck she pulled her down slightly for a kiss. It was soft, chaste, and over too soon. She pulled away. “That, was unprofessional.” She smirked.

Maria gaped at her, but before she could formulate a response the lights flicked back and the elevator jolted back into motion.   
Natasha glanced at the numbers. They were almost on her floor. 

“I get off at seven, come find me.” She winked as she sauntered out, leaving Maria still gaping.


End file.
